Papyrus
In Egyptian, there were several words
specifically for papyrus as a material, and some others for the papyrus
marshes. The list below only includes words that could (also) refer to
papyrus as a plant.
|
Spelling and
transliteration |
Meaning |
|
wAD |
Lit.: “the green
plant.” The most common designation for papyrus, in all uses,
including as name for the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt. |
|
mnH |
Mainly as name of the
plant, when referred to as a species from the marshes. Not
attested before the Middle Kingdom. |
|
mHyt |
Lit.: “the northern
plant.” Not attested before the New Kingdom. At first primarily
used in medical contexts, later for all purposes. In the Book of
the Dead regularly for papyrus as a plant typifying the Delta. |
|
Twfi |
Not before the New
Kingdom. Papyrus as plant, as base material, and as type of
environment (“the papyrus marshes”). |
|
Dt |
Lit.: “the erect
plant”. In Old Kingdom mastabas as word for papyrus as a plant
from the marshes, and as base material. |
The word wAD is by far the most frequently utilized word for
“papyrus”. It is common in all applications: both practical, and
symbolic / religious. Use of the other words is mostly confined to
practical matters: as a typical representative of the wetlands, as the
base material for making rope and matting, small boats and rafts, and as
a medicine. Typical for this is the frequent use in these words of the
determinative M2: 
.
This refers to “plant” in general, not specifically to papyrus.
All these words are occasionally also used in religious texts
(especially in the later periods), but wAD is the preferred word
for those applications. Examples of the latter include references to
papyrus as the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt.
Lotus
At first sight, it seems that the
Egyptians never distinguished in writing between the white and
the blue lotus - not by using different names for the two species, nor
by referring to the flower’s color. There are however marked differences
in the determinatives that are used for the lotus. The
Wb. gives
a/o the following specimen of lotus determinatives:
These hieroglyphs come from
the Zettelarchiv of the
Wörterbuch. They are therefore in the handwriting of modern
scholars - but made in a conscious and knowledgeable effort to
faithfully reproduce ancient Egyptian handwriting.
The first group is modeled on the white lotus, while
the second more resembles the blue one. We can however not be sure that
the choice in determinative was always made deliberately.
Separate words existed to denote the flower, the bud,
and even the bract (the outer leave of the bud), but also the stalk, and
the leaves. The examples below are confined to words for (parts of) the
flower.
|
Spelling and
transliteration |
Meaning |
|
sSSn |
The most common word
for lotus, used in all periods. The form sSSn is the
original: in use from Pyramid Texts till Middle Kingdom. It is
later replaced by the shorter form sSn. |
|
sSn |
|
sSn-(n)-Smw |
“Lotus of the summer
season”, or “Summer lotus”. |
|
nxb |
Lotus flower,
particularly as gift for a god. Also as the flower from which the
sun god originated. Not before the end of the New Kingdom. |
|
nHbt |
Lotus bud. The object
from which all that wonderful beauty, all that purity, all that
divine perfume came, naturally deserved its own name. NHbt
is the older form, in use from the Pyramid Texts on. NHmt
not before the New Kingdom. |
|
nHmt |
|
inHs |
Part of the lotus
bud, possibly its bract (outer leaf). Not before the New Kingdom. |
sSSn / sSn: this is the
most common, and the most important name for the lotus. It is the only
word used for the lotus in connection with the lotus-god Nefertem. It is
also the word that the deceased uses, when he expresses his wish to
become a “pure lotus” (Book of the Dead, Spell 81A).
(DZA
28.788.650)
“I am the pure lotus flower, which has come forth
from the light: the one who belongs to the nose of Re”.
The “summer lotus” (presumably to be understood as
the lotus from the summer season) was especially valued. The
determinatives used suggest that this was always a blue lotus. The
following is a text from the tomb of vizier Rekhmire (18th
dynasty, period of Tuthmosis III / Amenhotep II). It’s a caption for a
picture of the vizier and his wife, attending at a banquet:
(DZA 30.113.590)
“To make the heart forget, to rejoice in gladness, to
indulge in good things:
a summer lotus at the nose, and myrrh on the wig”. (Urk
IV, 1165).
The following is an example in which lotus flowers
and lotus buds are mentioned together. In the tomb of Imaw-nedjem at
Thebes (time of Tuthmosis III), the deceased is presented with gifts
from the North:
“The bringing of all fine gifts from Lower Egypt *):
long and short horned cattle, cattle of the fields, fowl, fish,
lotus flowers and lotus buds:
all the things that are good, and pure, and fresh, and everything that
gladdens the heart:
the products of every good place”. (Urk
IV, 953-954).
*): lit.: the Northland:
see section 25:
“The names of the heraldic plants in hieroglyphs”.
So, the lotus was on the one hand a symbol for the
divine, but on the other hand also closely connected to the good life,
with an emphasis on the sensuous.
An unexpected application of the
link between the lotus and the sensuous comes from
a text known as “The dispute of a man with his Ba”. Contemplating
suicide, the protagonist at one point says:
Death is before me today,
like the fragrance of lotus,
like sitting on the shore of drunkenness. (AEL-I,
168)
